Research: Current Research
Relationship of child-feeding practices to overweight in low-income Mexican-American preschool-aged children

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Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship of child-feeding practices and other factors to overweight in low-income Mexican-American preschool-aged children.

Design

Cross-sectional survey with anthropometric measurements of mothers and target children. Trained bilingual staff interviewed the parents to collect data on child-feeding strategies, food patterns, child’s health history, parental acculturation level, food insecurity, and other household characteristics.

Subjects and setting

Complete data were available from 204 low-income Mexican-American parents residing in California with at least one child aged 3 to 5 years.

Outcomes measured

Risk of overweight was defined as body mass index (BMI) (measured as weight [in kilograms]/height [in meters]2) ≥85th percentile and overweight was defined as BMI ≥95th percentile. The Student t test, χ2 test, and logistic regression were used.

Results

Three variables were positively related to risk of overweight: birth weight (odds ratio [OR], 2.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11 to 4.82), mother’s BMI ≥30 (OR, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.11 to 3.79), and juice intake (OR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.09 to 4.98). Being enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children was negatively related to risk of overweight (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.75). Additional variables related to overweight were monthly income >$1,500 (OR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.00 to 5.42) and child takes food from the refrigerator between meals (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.13 to 0.76).

Conclusions

The results of this study suggest that biological and socioeconomic factors are more associated with overweight in Mexican-American preschool-aged children than most of the self-reported child-feeding strategies.

Section snippets

Subjects

University of California Cooperative Extension staff in Kern, Monterey, Fresno, and Tulare counties recruited a convenience sample of 238 Latino families through Head Start; Healthy Start; the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); county day care centers; and migrant education programs. Subjects were eligible for this study if they met the following criteria: the target child had a birth date between January 1, 1993 and January 31, 1995; at least

Participant characteristics

Table 1 shows selected characteristics of the 204 children and their families who had complete data in the logistic regression analysis. Almost two thirds (65.5%) of the mothers were SD. Recruitment of low-income, ED families was difficult because many of the mothers were single and thus not eligible for the study. Because families were recruited primarily through food assistance, migrant education programs, WIC, Healthy Start, and Head Start programs, 43% of the SD and 45% of the ED families

Discussion

Child-feeding practices, as well as biological and socioeconomic factors, are associated with overweight in young Mexican-American children. Our findings on birth weight and maternal BMI are generally consistent with other studies in Latino populations. Birth weight and maternal BMI were positively associated with increased risk of obesity in 189 low-income Mexican-Americans living in Texas (odds ratio, 1.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.99 to 3.13 for birth weight and odds ratio, 1.80; 95%

Conclusions

The results of this study may be used by health professionals to target Mexican-American children at risk of obesity for early preventive interventions.

  • The association of high birth weight and maternal obesity with overweight among preschool-aged Mexican-American children indicates that very early interventions may be needed to reduce the risk of overweight in this population.

  • Referral of eligible women, infants, and children to the WIC program may be a useful strategy for early prevention in

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grant No. 57201 from the Child Health and Nutrition Campaign of The American Dietetic Association Foundation. The authors thank Cathi L. Lamp, Margaret C. Johns, Jeanette M. Sutherlin, Janice O. Harwood, and other staff of Fresno, Kern, Monterey, and Tulare counties for their assistance in this study. The authors also thank Jan Peerson for consulting on the statistical procedures, Natalia Leon and Stuart Bresnick for coding the data, and Dr. Patricia Crawford for

H. R. Melgar-Quiñonez is assistant professor, Department of Human Nutrition, Ohio State University, Columbus; at the time of the study, he was with the Department of Nutrition, University of California at Davis.

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  • Cited by (0)

    H. R. Melgar-Quiñonez is assistant professor, Department of Human Nutrition, Ohio State University, Columbus; at the time of the study, he was with the Department of Nutrition, University of California at Davis.

    L. L. Kaiser is cooperative extension specialist, Department of Nutrition, University of California at Davis.

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